Continuing my Tolkien kick, I saw the Return of the King for the second time on Saturday. It was just as good the second time around. One think I notice, or think I noticed, was a slight tweaking of the ending, or endings, since the first time I saw the film. Instead of fading to black or white after every ending, a lot of the fades were changed to transitional dissolves. One scene faded into the next. I'm not sure if I'm making this up, but I don't think I would've noticed it so much if it weren't changed. If anyone can confirm this for me, it'd be appreciated. It's not that I'm some sort of LOTR freak that analyzes every aspect of the film. I'm just an obsessive compulsive freak who analyzes every aspect of every film.
Later on Saturday, a bunch of people came to my apartment to play cards. Jed had proposed a poker night, which seemed like an awfully middle-aged thing to do, but in the end it was a lot of fun. Not a lot of money changing hands. Big winner was Dylan, raking in 35 bucks. I won 4. But the experience of it all was terribly amusing. Along the way, Matt devised a new game he called "Psychic Holdup," which is basically like 5-card stud, except you have to guess the color of the next card from the deck in order to look at the cards dealt face down. For some reason, everyone found this game hilarious. I think it was the part where, if someone guessed wrong, the entire table had to yell "Psychic Holdup!"
...in retrospect, the whole thing seems kind of gay. funny how often that happens.Sunday was most unpleasant. I had to get up early-albeit around noon- to go to brunch with my former neighbor Rachel and her boyfriend. I like Rachel very much, but it was cold and rainy and I sure as hell didn't feel like going anywhere. But seeing as she's Miss Charming Melodee's friend, and we hadn't seen her in a while, i went along with the plan. So we hopped in a car and headed over to Park Slope, to the Italian restaurant Sotto Voce. I used to like this place a lot, but after several meals there, the service is almost not worth the food, which used to be pretty good but now is spotty at best. Still, the brunch is usually enjoyable, enhanced by the unlimited mimosas, champagne, and bloody mary's. We were joined at brunch by their friend Brian, who I think bears an uncanny resemblance to the Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Ironic, since by attending the lunch I was missing the Patriots-Colts game on teevee. The food itself was good, but I didn't like the feeling that we were being shooed out of the place to make room for more guests. I don't care how crowded a place is, it's not very classy to try and rush people out. At every turn, they dropped little hints, going so far as to remove the cream and sugar from the table as we were drinking out coffee.
After shopping around Park Slope for a bit, MCM and I returned home to our cold apartment. My only plan was to sit in front of the tv. Well, sit and jump and scream and yell, as I was watching the Eagles play for a shot at the Superbowl for the third straight year. Being a lifelong Philadelphia sports fan, I am by now so used to disappoint that it's my default emotional setting. Still, as with all philly sports fans, I linger to the illogical hope that things will work out. It shouldn't be the City of Brotherly Love, but the city of sado-masochists. Predictably, the Eagles got trounced, by a more inspired team. Every year the Eagles charge easily into the playoffs, and every year they get beat by a team with a much better storyline. Predictably, this ruined my night. A bunch of people were supposed to come over, but never made it. Only Geoff came. It was better that way. I was so worried about the game that I contemplated buying the exact same snacks as the week before, when the Eagles pulled off a miracle win. Superstitious and absurd, but even now I'm wondering if maybe that would've helped.
Anyway, so now I'm sick. Not sure how it happened, but I think the fact that it's so cold in the apartment is at least partly to blame. There was a small but debilitating fire in the Vornado space heater a few nights ago, which robbed us of our only reliable source of heat. Other than that, we've kept the oven open and set to 400 degrees. We don't pay for gas, so it will stay on until spring (or until golden-brown). Still, the cold inside is better than the cold outside, and I spent most of the day indoors after calling in sick. I spent a good chunk of the afternoon playing around with GarageBand, the new music-making application from Apple. Music-making is now easier than ever. This program will undoubtedly increase the amount of crappy music floating around exponentially, or at least geometrically. So of course I must add my own to the world. So far, if I'm reading the signs correctly, I was put on this earth to accomplish one-purpose: the making of really bad techno-music. It's just too much fun. The program comes with over 1000 sound loops, which you can run through different instruments. Plus, you can plug your guitar or other instrument into the computer, and run it through one of several different amp simulators. Pretty neato. Much fun will be had, given the musical inclinations of both Miss Charming Melodee and myself.
So today is Chinese New Year. Every year I complain about how I shouldn't be at work or something. This year, I really shouldn't be, because I feel even sicker than I did yesterday. I'm planning on cooking a small meal in celebration, but as it stands, I'm feeling like crap. So we'll see. Year of the Monkey, if you're curious.
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